For anyone who recently purchased from the Apple Store and took advantage of the Juniper Visa 365 day 0% interest offer for purchases of $1000 or more, you may have a very unpleasant surprise in your first statement. Because Apple bills line items in a single order separately as they are shipped, Juniper treats each line item separately when applying the 0% interest offer. If, for example, you bought a $2000 computer and an $800 monitor, and they shipped on different days (highly likely since computers take at a least 2 or 3 days to build), Juniper will give you the 0% interest for 365 days on the computer, but you will have 0% interest for only 90 days on the monitor.
Juniper will not adjust your account under any circumstances. I spoke at length with a supervisor and they are absolutely resolute on this. It is an even greater offense, however, that when I originally spoke with Juniper about the promotional offer, they reassured me in no uncertain terms that the entire order would be treated as one purchase and that all line items would be billed at 0% interest for 365 days as long as the total order was $1000 or more. They even said, and I quote, "It's not your fault Apple bills items separately from the same order. Don't worry, we treat the entire order as a single purchase and you will receive 0% financing for 365 days on the entire order." Given what has actually come to pass on my first statement, it is now clear they misrepresented their offer. Combined with Apple's way of billing, the customer ends up in a seemingly no-win higher-cost-impact-than-expected situation.
The worst is yet to come: Because of the way payments are applied to the Juniper Visa account, if the customer does not pay off the ENTIRE account in 90 days, they will be charged DEFERRED INTEREST on the 0% for 90 day purchases as well as regular ongoing interest on the entire balance.
If you are having this experience, you should call Apple customer care and ask to speak to a supervisor. As of this last Monday, May 20, Apple customer care has begun receiving complaint calls about this problem, and you want to add your voice to the chorus. Furthermore, be clear and reasonable about your dissatisfaction and ask what Apple can do for you. They adjusted my order and offered a small compensatory credit for my difficulties.
I think Juniper knows exactly what it is doing and I believe they are complicit in a true scam. I think Apple has been caught off-guard by this situation and wants to do right by their customers. It is important that you make the effort to complain to Apple so that they feel pressure to put pressure on, or even better, terminate their relationship with Juniper. As customers we deserve honest representations and fair business practices.
Juniper will not adjust your account under any circumstances. I spoke at length with a supervisor and they are absolutely resolute on this. It is an even greater offense, however, that when I originally spoke with Juniper about the promotional offer, they reassured me in no uncertain terms that the entire order would be treated as one purchase and that all line items would be billed at 0% interest for 365 days as long as the total order was $1000 or more. They even said, and I quote, "It's not your fault Apple bills items separately from the same order. Don't worry, we treat the entire order as a single purchase and you will receive 0% financing for 365 days on the entire order." Given what has actually come to pass on my first statement, it is now clear they misrepresented their offer. Combined with Apple's way of billing, the customer ends up in a seemingly no-win higher-cost-impact-than-expected situation.
The worst is yet to come: Because of the way payments are applied to the Juniper Visa account, if the customer does not pay off the ENTIRE account in 90 days, they will be charged DEFERRED INTEREST on the 0% for 90 day purchases as well as regular ongoing interest on the entire balance.
If you are having this experience, you should call Apple customer care and ask to speak to a supervisor. As of this last Monday, May 20, Apple customer care has begun receiving complaint calls about this problem, and you want to add your voice to the chorus. Furthermore, be clear and reasonable about your dissatisfaction and ask what Apple can do for you. They adjusted my order and offered a small compensatory credit for my difficulties.
I think Juniper knows exactly what it is doing and I believe they are complicit in a true scam. I think Apple has been caught off-guard by this situation and wants to do right by their customers. It is important that you make the effort to complain to Apple so that they feel pressure to put pressure on, or even better, terminate their relationship with Juniper. As customers we deserve honest representations and fair business practices.
